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It Is Ok To Criticize Jews

Christ taught us to love each other, including our enemies. That is our standard. But there is a question on whether it is ever acceptable to criticize Jews.

It is acceptable to criticize individual jews

Consider the following scenarios.

You flip someone off for cutting in front of you in traffic. He is a Jew.

A man attempts to sexually assault your wife, so you punch him in the face, and restrain him until the cops show up. He is a Jew.

You arrest someone for robbing a bank. He is a Jew.

You criticize a man for suggesting the United States’ military should fight a war in a foreign country. He is a Jew.

None of the previous cases were anti-semitic, because the action was not based on their status as Jews. The conflict arose from their actions, not their identity. It is acceptable to criticize individuals who happen to be Jews.

It is acceptable to criticize groups with majority jewish members

Now consider a case of different scenarios

You speak out against the central bank, which is mostly run by Jews

You protest the existence of the Jewish state of Israel

You criticize the actions of Israeli politicians or lobbyists

The overlap between Jews and banking seems to be a historical accident based on the Jews’ acceptance of loaning usury to non-Jews, and the Christians’ abhorrence of lending usury. Christians thought usury was sin, but thought that taking a loan put the sin on the head of the lender. Why Jews continue to dominate banking today when there are many non-Jews who accept usury could possibly still be explained by the historical divide. In any case criticism of banking practices per se is not antisemitic, as long as it is banking itself being criticized, and not the identity of the people operating the banks.

Supporting the creation and existence of a Jewish state seems obviously pro-Jew, and therefore opposing the existence of Israel could be easily labeled as anti-semitic. However, God Himself criticized the nation of Israel through His prophets, and through His Son Jesus Christ. To be consistent we would have to call God antisemitic, which is absurd.

But because Israel is a state based on identity, criticizing the state of Israel is easily compounded with criticizing Jews. Once again, if the criticism is based on something they do, rather than who they are, it is not inherently antisemitic, for example when Jeremiah calling Israel “backsliding.”

Criticizing Israeli politicians or policies of the state of Israel are often labeled anti-semitic. However, to Americans, this is on its face ridiculous. Americans love to hate and criticize their own leaders. When we call Bill Clinton a rapist, Al Gore a fanatic, George W. Bush a war criminal, Obama a homosexual Kenyan, and Trump a traitor, we do not think we are calling ourselves that. So labeling criticisms of Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been a powerful politician in Israel for over a decade, as anti-semitic, do not carry as much weight for Americans. One can love America and hate its leaders. One can love Jews and criticize the state of Israel and its politicians. This falls under the rules of criticizing an individual based on their actions, not their identity.

The New York Times in 2019 published a drawing of Netanyahu, as a dog with a Star of David collar, leading president Trump, depicted wearing a yarmulke. This picture has been called antisemitic. Depicting Trump as a Jew could be seen as a smear against Jews, given that so many people hate Trump, and so associating him with Jews would indicate that we should hate Jews as well.

But Netanyahu was instrumental in leading the United States into war with Iraq. Criticizing Bush for his role in that disaster is not anti-American. So criticizing Netanyahu is not anti-Israel, or antisemitic.

Muslim congresswoman Ilhan Omar in 2019 pointed out that Israel has a lobbying group called AIPAC, or the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, that is very influential. It is unquestionable that U.S. involvement in wars overseas has been favorable to our allies, Israel and Saudi Arabia, and less beneficial to the United States and its citizens. Our founding father George Washington warned against getting involved in wars overseas, and he said that entangling ourselves in alliances with other countries would lead to just that. Questioning the point of foreign wars, and criticizing those who get us involved in them is very American. If some of those involved in getting us into wars are Jews, they should not be criticized for their identity, but in their actions which result in the impoverishment of America and the pointless deaths of our brave young men.

it is ok to criticize jewish ideas and beliefs

Is it ever ok to criticize a Jew for being Jewish? I personally have been mocked for being Mormon. The people who mocked me have every right to question my beliefs and identity. The same should apply to Jews.

Modern Jews often define themselves by the holocaust. This subject is so taboo that people are not even allowed to publish books critical of it.

Jews are those who do not accept Christ. They are different from Muslims and Buddhists and peoples of other religions, in that this was a conscious choice in the history of their religion. Jesus was not born a Muslim or a Buddhist, but a Jew. Those Jews who accepted Christ became Christians, along with any non-Jews who later converted. Jews who did not convert defined themselves as being those who rejected Christ, and who look forward to a different messiah.

In rejecting Christ, they reject his teachings, a fundamental one being that nation, or birth, is irrelevant. Jews define themselves as a race. Christ taught that one’s race and nationality were irrelevant. Christ would raise up his children of all nations, kindreds, and tongues. Modern Judaism, in creating a nation for Jews only, and excluding all others, continues to manifest a belief in their own racial superiority as children of Abraham. Though many who now claim Israel as their homeland cannot trace their genetics back to the original Jews to whom that land is promised.

Jews proclaim racial superiority. Atheists who have Jewish ancestors still define themselves as Jewish, or part Jewish. Atheists who have Christian ancestors do not define themselves as Christian, or part Christian, because Christian teachings are not racial.

It is ok to criticize the ideas or beliefs that a person has. I am personally critical of the Jewish doctrine of racial superiority. Free speech demands tolerance towards those who mock what we hold sacred. Liberal Western societies allow for a plurality of beliefs.

In summary

It is okay to criticize the actions and ideas of people. Jews are people. It is okay to criticize the actions and ideas of Jews. Specifically:

It is ok to criticize actions of individuals who happen to be Jewish

It is ok to criticize the actions of organizations that happen to be majority Jewish-run, including the state of Israel

It is ok to criticize Jewish beliefs and ideas

It is not ok to hate someone for who they are, or for the beliefs they hold. And even if someone’s actions make them your enemy, Christ’s doctrine is clear, that we are to love them.